1 … and justice for all? (Richard Auldon Clark) 7:37 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Katherine Murdock, viola; Jason Gekker, double bass

2 Elegy for a Sultry Summer Afternoon (Lance Hulme) 5:29 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Rita Sloan, piano

3 Moon Marked (Carson Cooman) 6:25 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Suzanne Gekker, clarinet

4 Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Brahms (Eric Ewazen) 12:59 Chris Gekker, flugelhorn; Rita Sloan, piano

Divertimento (Richard Auldon Clark) 10:11 5 I 2:24 6 II 5:44 7 III 2:03 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Katherine Murdock, viola; Mark Hill, oboe

8 Acquainted with the Night (Alistair Coleman) 5:52 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Rita Sloan, piano

9 Peace on Earth (Franklin Kiermyer) 4:28 Chris Gekker, trumpet; Suzanne Gekker, clarinet; Jason Gekker, double bass; Lianna Gekker, piano

Total duration 53:27 brief notes by Chris Gekker

Richard Auldon Clark’s …and justice for all? begins with a dramatic recitative for solo viola, answered by the measured tread of trumpet and double bass. This dialogue occurs several times. As the piece progresses the voices blend as they share an anguished plea.

Elegy for a Sultry Summer Afternoon by Lance Hulme is a warmly expressive narrative for trumpet and piano. The piano intones a cyclical motif that provides a foundation for the trumpet’s lyricism. A contrasting section joins both instruments in a weaving dialogue. The evanescent coda is a model of hushed nuance.

Carson Cooman created the term “moon marked” after reading accounts of astronauts who found, upon returning to earth after traveling in space, an altered perception of reality here on our home planet. His Moon Marked for clarinet and trumpet is an ever-shifting exploration of color and timbre, the two voices alternatively diverse and unified, seeming to perceive their surroundings with a new perspective.

In 2010 I commissioned Eric Ewazen for his Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Brahms for flugelhorn and piano. I asked him to use the opening theme of Brahms’ Intermezzo op. 117 no. 1, a work that I grew up hearing my father play. Paul Gekker was a fine amateur pianist who loved Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms, as well as his Russian favorites. I am very grateful to Eric for composing this work, which is dedicated to the memory of my father, Paul Gekker.

Divertimento for oboe, viola, and trumpet by Richard Auldon Clark was premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Auditorium in 2015. Before this first performance I joked with Richard that our appearance on stage would prompt a reaction along the lines of “an oboist, violist, and trumpeter walk into a bar.” Richard’s work explores the common ground that the three instruments can share, while also allowing each its unique color and voice.

I met Alistair Coleman during his junior year of high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. His Acquainted with the Night was composed the following summer, before his senior year, and later revised during his freshman year at the Juilliard School in New York City. This hauntingly beautiful work is inspired by the poem by Robert Frost and fades to gentle tapping of the piano keys.

In 1985, during my years living in New York City, I received a call from a newly arrived musician from Montreal who wanted to meet and discuss some musical ideas and projects. Franklin Kiermyer is a drummer who has achieved a renowned and unique profile in modern jazz, but this description is inadequate – I can only speak for myself in saying how profound his influence has been on me as a musician and person. I consider him a teacher - that we became close friends is something for which I am deeply grateful. Peace on Earth appears on Franklin’s Solomon’s Daughter CD (1994), a critically acclaimed recording featuring Pharoah Sanders, recently reissued in 2019. I was grateful to play a small role on this CD, and well remember a quiet conversation with Pharoah - Lianna was just a few months old, and he spoke of the blessing of having children grow up in one’s home. I also remember long walks with Franklin through Greenwich Village, taking turns guiding Lianna in her baby stroller.

Here we offer our own interpretation of Franklin’s work, which is based on a simple idea that has infinite potential for exploration, creativity, and, perhaps, hope – much like the concept “peace on earth.”

Composer, conductor, violinist, and violist Richard Auldon Clark (b.1964) is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival. A strong proponent of American music, Mr. Clark has performed and/or recorded hundreds of world premiers, and his work has received extraordinary praise in the New York Times, Fanfare, American Record Guide, Washington Post, and dozens of others. Mr. Clark has recorded the music of David Amram, Henry Cowell, Seymour Barab, Lukas Foss, Alan Hovhaness, Otto Leuning, Osvaldo Lacerda, Dave Soldier, Alec Wilder, and many more. An active studio musician as well, Mr. Clark has performed and recorded for Broadway, television, commercial, and film music, including several films for Philip Glass. Mr. Clark’s compositions have been praised in the New York Times and broadcast on NPR stations around the country. With more than twenty chamber works to his credit, Mr. Clark has premiered six new compositions in the past three years at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in September 2016, his opera Happy Birthday, Wanda June with a Libretto by Kurt Vonnegut was premiered by Indianapolis Opera. A frequent collaborator, Mr. Clark works with dancers, choreographers, and visual artists in the creation of new works. Currently, Mr. Clark is Professor of Music at Butler University where conducts the Butler Symphony Orchestra and Butler Ballet.

Alistair Coleman, composer (b.1998), is a recipient of the George Gershwin Scholarship at the Juilliard School. Recent works include a violin concerto for Soovin Kim, commissioned by the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in celebration of their tenth anniversary season. Alistair’s cello concerto for Grammy-award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey was premiered in 2020 to culminate Alistair’s four-year residency with the National Philharmonic Orchestra at Strathmore Hall. His sonata for Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic is currently touring the U.S., China, and Japan. Alistair’s string quartet “Moonshot” was premiered by the Abeo Quartet in collaboration with the Glenstone Museum and Smithsonian Institute. Alistair's music has been performed by ensembles including “The President's Own,” United States Marine Chamber Orchestra, Washington Master Chorale, Cathedral Choral Society, and musicians from the Baltimore and National Symphonies, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and Minnesota Opera Orchestra. He is the protégé composer- in-residence at Chamber Music Northwest in 2021. Alistair’s music has been recognized by ASCAP, American Composers Forum, and NPR. His teachers include David Serkin Ludwig of the Curtis Institute. At Juilliard, he studies with Robert Beaser, takes academic coursework at Columbia University, and engages in mentorship with President Emeritus Joseph W. Polisi. For more information, visit www.alistaircoleman.com.

Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s music appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty-five complete CDs on numerous labels. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of CD releases and more than 2,000 recordings available online. For more information, visit www.carsoncooman.com.

Eric Ewazen, Composer and Teacher (b.1954), has been a member of the Faculty of The Juilliard School since 1980. His music, particularly for brass and winds has become a staple of the repertoire, performed and recorded by soloists, chamber ensembles, wind ensembles and orchestras around the world. Some of the most distinguished performing artists of the 20th/21st centuries have embraced his music, frequently featuring the many works he has written on concerts and recordings. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Eastman School of Music, and Master and Doctorate Degrees from the Juilliard School. His teachers have included Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Joseph Schwantner and Gunther Schuller. Eric has served as a lecturer for the New York Philharmonic’s Musical Encounters Series. Past faculty appointments include the Hebrew Arts School and the Lincoln Center Institute. Eric has held the post of Vice President of the League of Composers – International Society for Contemporary Music from 1982 to 1989, and has been featured as Composer in Residence for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Recently his Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra was featured by the Paul Taylor Dance Company during their Lincoln Center season.

Composer Lance Hulme (b.1960) has a multi-faceted career as keyboardist, conductor, arranger and educator. His music has been performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia and has garnered both critical and audience acclaim. Recordings of his music include compact disc releases on the Albany, Bridge, LiveNotes, Ablaze and Métier labels.

Hulme’s music has won many awards including Grand Prize, International Witold Lutoslawski Composition Competition, 1st Prize, ASCAP/Rudolf Nissim Prize, Grand Prize, International Trumpet Guild Composition Competition and awards from the Composición Musical Cuitat de Tarragona, Citta di Trieste Orchestra Competition and the Ladislav Kubik Composition Competition. Notable performances and commissions include Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Southern German Radio, the State Theater of Baden, the State Orchestra of Magdeburg, West German Radio, the Karlsruhe University Chorus, the Raschèr Saxophone Orchestra, Quattro Mani, the Henschell Quartet and others. His compositions have been presented at ISCM, Warsaw Autumn and Aspen Summer festivals. He has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and was awarded a two-year Fulbright Grant to Austria. Lance Hulme studied at the Yale University School of Music (DMA, MMA), the Eastman School of Music (MM) and the University of Minnesota (BM) and he also studied at the Universität für Musik in Vienna, Austria.

Drummer, composer and bandleader Franklin Kiermyer (born 21 July 1956 in Montreal) is known mostly for the intense passionate energy, expansive style and distinct sound of his drumming and the spiritual focus of his music. Growing up in the 1960s/70s, the psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix and the ritual music of many of the world’s indigenous cultures surrounded him, but it was his encounter with the ecstatic music of John Coltrane and his quartet of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison that brought all these influences together and focused his intentions.

Kiermyer came to prominence in the 1990s during his long residency in New York City. His 1994 album Solomon’s Daughter, featuring saxophonist and John Coltrane band member Pharaoh Sanders received much acclaim and his eleven albums and many performances have brought his music international recognition. Scatter The Atoms That Remain is Kiermyer's present band with saxophonist Michael Troy, pianist Davis Whitfield and bassist Otto Gardner. Their most recent recording has attracted much critical acclaim and is named on a number of critics’ lists of most outstanding releases.

Richard Auldon Clark Alistair Coleman Carson Cooman Franklin Kiermyer

Lance Hulme Eric Ewazen Katherine Murdock Mark Hill Suzanne Gekker Jason Gekker Rita Sloan Lianna Gekker

Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, and can be heard as soloist on more than thirty recordings, and on more than one hundred chamber music, orchestral, jazz, and commercial recordings, as well as numerous movie and television soundtracks. Deutsche Grammophon selected him to be included on their 2005 CD compilation “Masters of the Trumpet.” He moved to Maryland in 1998, from New York City, where he was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years, principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. He also frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and as a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a guest principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Santa Fe Opera. Frequently invited to perform and record with contemporary popular artists, he is featured on Sting’s 2009 DVD “On a Winter’s Night,” filmed live in Durham Cathedral, England. Recent solo recordings include Larry Bell’s Unchanging Love (Fanfare Magazine: “Chris Gekker has made himself known over the years as a superb trumpeter who is able to produce meltingly flute-like tones at one extreme, and to bring down the house at the other.”) and Corollary III by Brian Fennelly, for trumpet and piano, of which American Record Guide writes “It is always a pleasure to hear Chris Gekker’s round, warm tone quality, virtuoso skills, and always thoughtful way of playing.” His most recent solo CD Ghost Dialogues was awarded second place in the Solo Artist Category 2018/19 by The American Prize. More information can be found on his website www.chrisgekkertrumpet.com

Chris continues to perform and record in New York City and elsewhere, and in the Washington DC area he is principal trumpet of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, the Post Classical Ensemble, Washington Ballet, Washington Concert Opera, and during the summers is principal trumpet at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. Chris was born in Washington DC, grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. In 2013 he received the Chester J. Pertanek Award “For Outstanding Community Service in enriching the Musical Life of the Washington Metropolitan Area” by Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras. In 2018 the University of Maryland awarded him the title Distinguished University Professor “For Extraordinary Scholarly Achievement and Outstanding Contributions to the Intellectual Life of the University” – the first faculty member from the School of Music. His teachers include Emerson Head, Sidney Mear, Adel Sanchez, and Gerard Schwarz.

Suzanne Gekker is an active classical and jazz performer in the Washington, D.C. area. Originally from New Orleans she received music degrees from Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and Yale School of Music. Her primary teachers include David Shifrin and Carmine Campione. In her professional career she has played with the Cincinnati Symphony, Ballet and Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony and Broadway Shows. In the DC area she performs regularly with Washington Concert Opera, Washington National Opera, National Cathedral, National Philharmonic, Embassy Series and Alexandria Symphony. Suzanne also plays with local Trad. and Gypsy jazz groups including the Hot Club of DC, in bistros, restaurants and Warrior Café in Bethesda. She has recently toured the U.S. with the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra and plays on their latest recording. In addition to performing in dozens of historical opera houses with Peacherine, Suzanne Gekker has played in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, Strathmore Hall, Lincoln Center, National Cathedral, Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Trinity Church, St. John the Divine and The Players Club in New York, Cincinnati Music Hall and Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, and the Neil Simon and Schubert Theater in New York. Katherine Murdock, violist, is recognized as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. She has performed throughout the world with such groups as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Boston Chamber Music Society, and the Mendelssohn String Quartet, of which she was a member for seven years. As a participant in the Marlboro Festival, she has toured with Music From Marlboro and performed on their fortieth anniversary concerts in New York and Philadelphia. She has performed live on NPR, West German Radio, and the BBC, and has been a guest of the Emerson, Vermeer, and Guarneri string quartets, as well as the Beaux Arts Trio. Ms. Murdock received her musical training at Oberlin College and the Yale School of Music; her teachers and mentors have included Karen Tuttle, Joseph Silverstein, Sándor Végh, Eugene Lehner, Felix Galimir, Robert Mann, and William Primrose. Ms. Murdock served for nine years on the faculty of SUNY Stony Brook; previous to that she was on the faculties of Boston Conservatory, Wellesley College, the Longy School, University of Delaware, and University of Hartford, and for five years was Blodgett Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University with the Mendelssohn Quartet. Now Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, for the past twenty-three summers Ms. Murdock has been on the artist faculty of Yellow Barn and Kneisel Hall festivals. She has toured New Zealand as a guest of the New Zealand String Quartet, and has recently given master classes and concerts throughout the US, Turkey, Taiwan, Guatemala, and Brazil. She was the violist of the Los Angeles PianoQuartet for twenty-one years, and is a member of the Left Bank Quartet of Washington, D.C.

Mark Hill is Professor of Oboe at the University of Maryland and Principal Oboe of the National Philharmonic. He has performed with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, Orpheus, the Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and has had long tenures as a member of the New York Chamber Symphony and the Northeast Pennsylvania Phiharmonic. However, it is as a chamber musician that he has devoted his greatest energies, as evidenced by performances with such groups as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Guarneri Quartet, the New York Woodwind Quintet, the Sylvan Winds, the Mendelssohn Quartet, and contemporary music groups such as Speculum Musicae and New York’s Music Today Ensemble. He has been a performer and faculty member of Vermont’s renowned Yellow Barn Festival for the past 22 years. He has recorded on at least 9 major labels and has two acclaimed solo CD recordings on Albany Records, Alchemy and Sad Steps.

Jason Gekker is currently a graduate assistant in double bass at the University of Maryland. His major teachers are Robert Oppelt and Anthony Manzo. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati, College/Conservatory of Music where his teachers were Albert Laszlo and Rachel Calin. He has had additional study with Luciana Carneiro, Marc Facci and Meridith Johnson at the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. He has performed with the University of Maryland Symphony orchestra as principal bass, UMD Opera and Chamber groups, CCM Concert, Philharmonia and Opera Orchestra. In DC, Jason has played professionally with the Maryland Symphony, Apollo Orchestra, Great Noise Ensemble and Prince George’s Philharmonic. He was born in New York and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and is from a family of musicians who perform regularly with their own Gypsy jazz and swing bands (Better Times Swing Quartet) and other local groups at venues like the Warrior Café in Bethesda, Riverdale Market, and the Arts Club of DC. Jason is focusing on orchestral studies as well as jazz and other genres. He continues to study music technology, recording and sound editing. Jason plays a Morelli bass built in the 1920s.

Rita Sloan is acknowledged internationally as a leading teacher of piano, collaborative piano and chamber music. In 1999, she was appointed a piano faculty member and director of the collaborative piano program at the University of Maryland. As an Artist Faculty Member at the Aspen Music Festival, Ms. Sloan founded their Collaborative Piano Program. She has performed as soloist with both the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony as well as in chamber music with many of Aspen’s distinguished guest artists including pianists Wu Han and Orli Shaham, violinists Sarah Chang and Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, cellist Gary Hoffman, bassist Edgar Meyer and flutist Emmanuel Pahud. Teaching residencies and master class presentations have included Tainan National University of the Arts and National Normal University in Taiwan, China Conservatory in Beijing, China, leading universities in Seoul, Korea, London’s Royal College of Music, American universities and conservatories including numerous visits to the Juilliard School in New York. Ms. Sloan has performed with orchestra, in recital, and in chamber music throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. She has been a guest in many chamber music venues and has performed with members of the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Born in Russia to Polish parents, Ms. Sloan graduated from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin and Rosina Lhévinne. Further studies were with Leon Fleisher, Aube Tzerko, Herbert Stessin and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Lianna Gekker has been involved with music her whole life, from her early start on piano all the way to her extensive jazz education and her budding independent career. She earned music degrees from the University of Maryland, studying with Jon Ozment, and Indiana University in Jazz Studies where she was a student of Luke Gillespie. At Indiana, she held the position of Assistant Instructor in Jazz Piano and at UMD she was the recipient of a Maryland Talent in the Arts scholarship. In the Washington DC area, she has performed and recorded with many jazz big bands and combos, including Shannon Gunn and the Bullettes, Lena Seikaly, The Woodmont Grill piano trio and the Leigh Pilzer/Jen Krupa Quintet. Lianna has also played in many prestigious venues such as Bohemian Caverns, Bargemusic in Brooklyn, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club, Wounded Warrior Café and the Carlyle Club. Lianna is an experienced composer and arranger, with full arrangements for jazz combo and big band including the independent 2017 film, Stardust and Moonbeams. Lianna also has extensive experience recording, mixing and mastering for independent artists. This album was recorded at Dekelboum Concert Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA on February 4, 2019 (tracks 1, 5-7); September 29, 2019 (tracks 2,8, & 9) and November 4, 2012 (track 4) Recording engineer: Antonino d’Urzo Track 3 was recorded at Spencerville Seventh Day Adventist Church, Silver Spring, MD on March 22, 2018. Recording engineer: Neil Brown Produced, edited and mastered by Antonino d’Urzo Program notes: Chris Gekker Album and booklet design: Stephen Sutton (Divine Art) Cover image: photo by Suzanne Gekker All images, texts and graphic devices are copyright and used with permission. All rights reserved ℗+© 2020 Divine Art Ltd (Diversions LLC in USA/Canada) Music copyright/publishers: Tracks 1, 5-7: Keuka Classical/BMI Track 2: In Pegno Music/ASCAP Track 3: Zimbel Press/Subito Music Corp. Track 4: Theodore Presser Inc. Track 8: Copyright Control Track 9: Franklin Kiermyer/Mobility Music/ASCAP

GHOST DIALOGUES Métier MSV 28572 Carson Cooman: Equinox Sonata Robert Gibson: Fall David Heinick: Served Two Ways Lance Hulme: Ghost Dialogues Lance Hulme: The Street has Changed Kevin McKee: Song for a Friend

Chris Gekker, trumpet Clara O’Brien, mezzo-soprano Chris Vadala, tenor saxophone Rita Sloan piano

“Chris Gekker is a master of his instrument. His technique is impeccable. This is a most varied recital, then, caught in superb sound. The combination of technique, taste, and musicianship is remarkable.” - Colin Clarke (Fanfare)

“Some music hits you from the first with a special moodiness. Enter Ghost Dialogues. Some of the works have a solemn majesty, some a jazzy approach, all have a reflectiveness in some way, and all show Chris Gekker to be a marvelous, singing trumpet presence. All performers are peak, but Chris Gekker is the very artful, brilliant constant.” – Grego Edwards (Gapplegate Classical Modern Music)

“Chris Gekker’s full and warm trumpet sound is always welcome.” – Barry Kilpatrick (American Record Guide)

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